Hope Watson, UTA

Source: UTA

Hope Watson

Agent and motion picture literary, UTA

  • In 2010 moved from Australia to New York to work in fashion
  • In 2017, joined UTA mailroom and promoted to agent in 2021

Born in Canberra, Australia, Watson’s introduction to the entertainment industry was producing commercials and branded content in New York. She parlayed that passion into her present job, representing filmmaker clients including Kristoffer Borgli, Goran Stolevski and Veronica Ngo.

Watson activated Norwegian financing for Borgli’s 2022 Cannes dark comedy Sick Of Myself and struck a North American deal with Utopia. She is encouraged by the post-pandemic box-­office return and greater visibility for international films in the US. “People are figuring out how to get more social-media engagement,” she says.

The agent closed a deal for Borgli to write and direct Dream Scenario starring Nicolas Cage at A24 (in post), and helped set up Australian Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone and Of An Age at Focus Features. She is fielding studio interest in Ngo (Furies) as the Vietnamese filmmaker/actress eyes her first English-language feature.

Mentors include UTA motion picture literary group partner and co-head Julien Thuan, animation executive Mireille Soria and fellow Australian Bec Smith (now at Anonymous Content) who, says Watson, “taught me about international sales and the festival circuit”.

Contact: hwassistant@unitedtalent.com